he
depositions of men who are villains by their own confession, and of whom
the nation sees, that they may save their lives by a bold accusation,
whether true or false.

That the bill will, indeed, be effectual to the purposes designed, that
it will crowd the courts of justice with evidence, and open scenes of
wickedness never discovered before, I can readily believe; for I cannot
imagine that any man who has exposed his life by any flagrant crime,
will miss so fair an opportunity of saving it by another. I shall
expect, my lords, that villains of all denominations, who are now
skulking in private retreats, who are eluding the officers of justice,
or flying before the publick pursuit of the country, will secure
themselves by this easy expedient; and that housebreakers, highwaymen,
and pickpockets, will come up in crowds to the bar, charge the earl of
ORFORD as their accomplice, and plead this bill as a security against
all inquiry.

That this supposition, however wild and exaggerated it may seem, may not
be thought altogether chimerical; that it may appear with how little
consideration this bill has been drawn, and how easily it may be
perverted to the patronage of wickedness, I will lay before your
lordships such a plea as may probably be produced by it.

A man whom the consciousness of murder has for some time kept in
continual terrours, may clear himself for ever, by alleging, that he was
commissioned by the earl of ORFORD to engage, with any certain sum, the
vote or interest of the murdered person; that he took the opportunity of
a solitary place to offer him the bribe, and prevail upon him to comply
with his proposals; but that finding him obstinate and perverse, filled
with prejudices against a wise and just administration, and inclined to
obstruct the measures of the government, he for some time expostulated
with him; and being provoked by his contumelious representations of the
state of affairs, he could no longer restrain the ardour of his loyalty,
but thought it proper to remove from the world a man so much inclined to
spread sedition among the people; and that, therefore, finding the place
convenient, he suddenly rushed upon him and cut his throat.

Thus, my lords, might the murderer represent his case, perhaps, without
any possibility of a legal confutation; thus might the most atrocious
villanies escape censure, by the assistance of impudence and cunning.

A bill like this, my lords, is nothing less th